Nicole Zarafonetis
ncz500@york.ac.uk
Chinese Women's Perceptions of Sexuality, Sexual Conduct, Norms and Behaviours
I am currently a first year PhD student at the Centre for Women's Studies at the University of York and work under the supervision of Professor Stevi Jackson. I hold an MA (Hons) from the University of St. Andrews in Modern History and Italian and an MSc from the London School of Economics in Gender, Development and Globalisation. After finishing my MSc, I worked as an English language teacher in Shanghai, China for a year and a half. Upon returning from China to my hometown, Washington, DC, I worked at an international women's rights organization that advocated for greater gender sensitivity in the investments made by the international financial institutions.
Through these experiences and more, I formulated my research interest in Chinese women of today. China provides a unique landscape to examine gender dynamics, due to its distinct history and rapid economic development. In particular, I am interested in the ways in which the state, family and education system in China influence young Chinese women's perceptions of sexuality, sexual conduct, norms and behaviours.